A Mild Breeze

Some of you probably saw on the news that California had a major winter storm on Friday. The electricity flickered so much that I had to go ahead and turn off the computer and unplug it. I was really afraid of frying my motherboard and I never do trust those surge protectors.

Of course later I discovered that in fact, I had unplugged the paper shredder. And, indeed, the paper shredder was not fried during the wind storm.

This was the view out my window after the storm had blown over. I was very worried about the big banners mounted on aluminum poles outside my window. I was just certain that the whole thing was going to become a projectile and crash through my living room window and impale me or one of my teapots.

Later I found the banner that spells REDEMPTION in my front yard. I have big plans for taking it over to the church and asking them if they have been Seeking Redemption. And then I can tell them that I have their Redemption Right Here, buddy!

Won't that be a hoot?

I was fascinated by my favorite palm tree, as I watched it bend over almost perpendicular to the ground during the wind gusts of up to 65mph.

You can see it in the distance looking a bit like a shredded bachelor's button. Normally it looks like the puffier ones in the foreground.

Later, I was fascinated to see that the Channel 3 satellite truck had pulled into the church parking lot. I figured there must be some limbs down in the street nearby but I couldn't see them from my window.

I turned to Channel 3 in time to see the reporter standing in front of this:

Just on the other side of the church from where I live!

Apparently, every time they run a water line, or a cable line, or a sewer line, or dig down to put in a sidewalk, they hack away at the root structure of the tree. This tree literally just tipped over because it had nothing to anchor it down.

There was no actual damage to the structure of the church however. They will have to do some roof repair but only minor! I think it will be awhile before they even notice that the Redemption Banner is missing.